


You and Me

by roguefaerie (samidha)



Category: Practical Magic (1998)
Genre: Gen, Magic, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 09:38:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19944037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samidha/pseuds/roguefaerie
Summary: After the ritual is completed and the ashes have been swept, Gillian and Sally keep going.





	You and Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [basketofnovas (slashmarks)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashmarks/gifts).



The circle of women had given them more than enough power for all of them to dance--together and apart--through the energies and hold the space to winnow Jimmy down to spectral nothingness. The power had been there, held for the Owens’ until they were ready. A camaraderie and sudden understanding at last.

But it was Sally who joined her. It was Sally who got down on the floor. It was Sally who gave every ounce of what she could to pull Gillian back. Sally didn’t let Gillian give in or let her lose herself to him.

*~*~*

Not long after the last of the ashes were swept from the house, a coven was formed from their shared experience. Forged out of protectiveness and necessity, to ensure their continued safety. Even so, Sally and Gillian hung back, their hands clasped together during the workings.

“Do you feel that?” Gillian asked, though the question floated from her lips to Sally’s ears as if it didn’t have an answer. It wouldn’t for several days, but that was all right with them both. 

They would have to take some time to adjust. Gillian most of all.

There were still waves of anger, and Sally would feel them from across the house. Did she feel Gillian this way from the start? It seemed...sharper. Different. They would run to each other, meet in the middle of the living room, and clasp hands again.

Gillian and Sally were out on the porch when something shifted. Gillian looked over her shoulder at her sister and asked, “Did you feel that too?” It had only been a few weeks since the banishing ritual, but they looked at each other pointedly, really addressing the question, and Sally nodded.

“Your magic. I feel it.”

“It’s getting stronger,” Gillian said, dismayed.

“I think it may be correcting itself. This doesn’t have to be bad. You’re getting stronger. And Gilly, it’s okay to be angry. What he did was bullshit. All of it. Every single second of it. Every minute of Jimmy Angelo was--”

“A mistake. My mistake.”

“No, Gilly, focus. What he did, those murders, none of that is your fault. Breathe, Gilly. Come on, just breathe.”

And she did breathe.

“God, Sal, every day I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck. All over again. Is that the price? Am I finally getting magic, and this is the price?”

“There is no actual price. Not in that way. This is just life after something like this. No price. You’re going to get yourself all the way back. You know I know that.”

Gillian believed her. She really did. Because it was Sally talking. And instead of letting the rage from her trauma out against Sally she swallowed it down. But not without telling Sally it was there. Sally had felt it.

“I’m so angry,” Gillian said, and then deflated. She sat down heavily on the porch steps with a sigh. 

“That makes complete sense, Gilly. You’re making sense. Anything you feel, just feel it. So what if you’re angry? People deserve to be angry when they’re supposed to.”

“Supposed to?”

“Of course. You of all people should know--sometimes anger protects you. Sometimes anger is warranted.”

Some of Sally’s wisdom didn’t seem to reach Gillian’s ears.

“Will the magic be too much? Will you be here?” Gilly asked, and for the first time since they started talking, she sounded far away and small, and very scared.

“The magic will be just right, and I’ll be right here,” Sally said. “You know I will. You know I’ll be here every step of the way. It’s you and me.”

That registered. “You and me. Two old biddies with all these cats,” Gillian said, still a bit far away.

Until Sally reached out her palm, in that way they had been reinforcing for weeks. Gillian took Sally's hand again, the gesture now a symbol of her sister's commitment to helping her heal. Their journey had just begun.


End file.
